It's out with the old and in with the new over at Yahoo, which is forcing users to either upgrade from its Yahoo Mail Classic email service or jump ship. Yahoo made the announcement on its site today and also sent emails to affected users letting them know that beginning this week, older versions of Yahoo Mail (including Yahoo Mail Classic) will no longer be available.

"When you upgrade, you will be accepting our Communications Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. This includes the acceptance of automated content scanning and analyzing of your communications content, which Yahoo! uses to deliver product features, relevant advertising, and abuse protection," Yahoo states.

Privacy advocates will undoubtedly find that tidbit to be a bit of a bummer, though it's not necessarily the deal killer that it may appear to be. You can opt out of receiving interest-based and contextual-based advertising that results from having your messages and communications content analyzed by changing the appropriate setting in the Ad Interest Manager. It's unclear, however, if Yahoo will continue to scan your messages even if you opt out of receiving personalized ads.

Don't like the change? Yahoo says you have two options: Switch to IMAP and use a third-party email program like Outlook or Thunderbird, or close your account.